Brendan Burke was remembered today as a compassionate, caring and courageous young man by hundreds of people who gathered for his funeral service.

Maple Leafs president and general manager Brian Burke, accompanied by his former wife, Kerry, mother of Brendan, watches as the casket of Burke's son Brendan is taken from the hearse into a memorial service in Canton, Mass. (Feb. 9, 2010)

By:Daniel GirardSports Reporter, Published on Tue Feb 09 2010

CANTON, MASS. — Brendan Burke was remembered today as a compassionate, caring and courageous young man by hundreds of people who gathered for his funeral service.

The youngest son of Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke died following a car accident in Indiana on Friday.

Father James McCune told an overflow crowd of mourners at St. John the Evangelist church here that a “truly and wholly unexpected death” like Brendan’s is similar to an electrical system blackout.

“We are plunged into darkness,” McCune said. “Nothing can prepare us for the death of a much-loved and widely admired young person.

“And Brendan Burke was certainly both.”

McCune talked about Brendan Burke’s “long-time and current interest” in hockey and referred directly to his public admission last fall that he is gay.

“Brendan’s public admission of his sexual orientation is widely credited with nudging hockey forward in overcoming its sometimes homophobic culture.”

At the start of the Catholic mass, Brendan’s coffin was wheeled into the church and up the centre aisle. Brian Burke, his head bowed, led the family procession — along with Brendan’s mother Kerry — following immediately behind the casket.

A full 45 minutes before the mass began, the church’s more than 600 seats were already filled to capacity. Up front, the Maple Leafs players and club brass sat quietly. Across the aisle were members of the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks, wearing bright red team jerseys emblazoned with a shamrock and the letters BB.

Brendan was the student manager and video assistant of the RedHawks, the NCAA’s top-ranked hockey team.

Brian did not speak during the service, the family eulogy being delivered instead by Brendan’s sister Molly and brother Patrick.

Molly described her loving brother as “an invitation to the dance of life.”

“I can’t think of a better way to describe what you offered me,” she said, before breaking down in tears.

Patrick delivered an impassioned assessment of his brother’s “courage to transcend cynicism and fear.”

“His vision of the world was a spark that lit a fire of hope in so many people,” Patrick said.

“That fire has not been extinguished by his death. His memory will fan a flame of courage in all of us.”

“Through all of us, his hope still lives and his dream will never die.”

The church erupted in applause at the conclusion of Patrick’s remarks.

Following the 75-minute service, the congregation emerged into unseasonably warm February New England sunshine as church bells rang. Mourners stood two and three deep on either side of the church driveway as the funeral procession departed for a private burial.

Apart from the hundreds of people seated in the pews for the service, dozens of mourners ringed the back of the church, part of which basked in brilliant sunshine pouring through the stained glass windows in stark contrast to the somber occasion.

Also on hand were scores of people from the NHL family, from referees, past and present, to retired players, fellow general managers, player agents and broadcasters.

Brendan, 21, and Mark A. Reedy, 18, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich. died at the scene of a two-vehicle accident in Wayne County, Ind. during a snow storm Friday afternoon.

Brendan was driving eastbound on Highway 35 in a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee when, according to witnesses, the vehicle slid sideways into an oncoming pick-up truck.

The 24-year-old driver of the truck was not hurt.

Brendan, who was a senior at Miami University, was returning to the campus in Oxford, about 50 kilometres north of Cincinnati.

He had been visiting Michigan State University because he was interested in its law school. He was said to be contemplating a career in politics or hockey after becoming a lawyer.

Brendan made headlines last November when he publicly disclosed he was gay in an ESPN.com story. It was a move he hoped would help ease homophobia in hockey.

Brendan was widely praised for his coming out. His family, who he’d told a couple of years earlier, and the Miami University hockey team, who’d known for about 18 months before the article was published, were lauded for the love and support they showed him.

His father, always regarded as a gruff, tough, no-nonsense man’s man, called Brendan a “pioneer” and said as his son chose to blaze this trail, “I stand beside him with an axe.

“I had a million good reasons to love and admire Brendan,” Brian Burke told ESPN.com. “This news didn’t alter any of them.”

Brendan was one of four children from Brian Burke’s first marriage to Kerry. Over the decade Burke was general manager in Vancouver and then Anaheim, he made the cross-continent trip every second week to spend time with them in this small town 30 kilometres southwest of Boston.

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